ÄLGDRONK

When I went to Stockholm a few years ago I went into a great shop called KALIKÅ it had loads of cool kids toys including Älgdronks. Now the made up versions were a bit outside my budget but they also did kits and instructions so I got myself a pattern and kit for Älgdronk.

As far as I can figure the name is just that of a moose (Älg) stuck onto the shops version of a gonk (dronk doesn't see to have an English equivalent).

Anyway despite parting with cash for this gem I never quite got round to sewing it but last weekend Tom had headed off to other pastures for the weekend so I pulled it out and went to work.

The poor thing does seem a little down at having been ignored for so long!

Camera Bag

I got a new camera - it's rather dull and black so I decided that to make it more exciting I'd make a camera case.

It was just a simple rectangle 14cm by 26cm folded into three (or as required by the camera).

I used two layers of fabric and a bit of wadding as padding (cotton front facing each other, then the wadding on the bottom), with a quarter inch seam allowance.

Then a simple slip stitch up either sides to about a third of the way up.

I added a wee loop of ribbon (as I sewed up the gap created from turning it the right way round) and a button to keep it closed.

I even put in a pocket so I can carry a spare memory card/ battery/ credit card etc. Then I went a bit mad and quilted the top round the island and the cap in the map.

Best of all I got to use my pirate fabirc and the dubloons!

Fabric plans

So having gone through my fabric stash I am planning some projects. I bought this buddle of fat quarters to go with fabric I had for a few specific projects.One of my plans is to make a quilt with jars and bookshelves I was inspired by a quilt design I found online by One Day Quilt Frenzy which combined books and jars!

I reckon the wood effect fabric will make good shelves and the mottled fabric good book covers, plus the dubloons will make a good jar. I already have some other prints that will make intersting jar contents and some genius spider web fabric to add in a few corners!

Dr. Who Cookies

I love cookie cutters (not that I bake that often) but I couldn't resist this Dalek cookie kit from Greens. They were really easy to make and tasted pretty good too!

They proved to be a lot easier to exterminate than the originals :)

Badge madness

I went to the School Library Association conference the other weekend. During the session on school tranisitions the speaker suggested that the librarian could wear different badges during the year. This would mean the kids would remember you and think the library was fun.

Now i have no idea if this will impress the youth of today (though a few of my new sixth years did say they liked my 'Einstein is relatively good' badge) but the school has a badge maker I could borrow and I had crafty inspiration.

So Wednesday night was badge making with a librarian theme! Now I am rubbish at thinking what slogans to use so I hit cafepress and looked for librarian themed badges. My favourites include 'Question Authority, Ask a Librarian' and 'I read dead people'.

I also did a Dr.Who badge - partly since David Tennant is a local boy but mostly because Dr. Who has twice featured a library and the Doctor clearly feels they are important!

Now all I have to do is wait and see if my first year are impressed!

"The fat just walks away"

Clair and me both made Adipose (for the post about where we got the pattern click here). I already mentioned this in my crafty madenss post but here are both together for the first time - mine is on the left. Neither quiet looks like the original but both were made with love! Possibly they were generated from bones, blood and tissue rather than fat :)

Clair's rather cleverly actually weighs a pound!

Secret Patchwork Project

For the past few months (lets say somewhere in the region of 9 months) Clair and I have been doing a patchwork quilt for our mate's new baby. So the child is now six months old but the quilt is done! Made with love (if not competence).

We started with this great red fabric covered with loads of brightly coloured animals and somewhere along the way that fabric ended up as the back! So to bring it to the front we cut out five love hearts with an animal pair in each. I can neither confirm or deny that these love hearts cover up a couple of errors.